Nyeupe: Protector of the Pride Lands
by AfricaLover1996
Summary: Never in the Circle of Life has a human stepped foot into the Pride Lands...until now. Meet Nyeupe: a young human boy whose memory had to be lost in order to save his sight, but a destiny has now been forged, to serve and defend as a Knight of Pride Rock and Protector of the Pride Lands!
1. Chapter 1: The Hairless Monkey

Sura 1 (Chapter 1): The Hairless Monkey

**Pride Lands, The Waterhole**

"What is it?", asked an elephant in a crowd full of animals, who were all gathered in a circle. "Looks like some kind of hairless monkey.", piped up a giraffe, craning her head down to get a better look at the strange creature.

"Uhhh...", groaned the creature in pain and slowly opened its warm blue eyes. Immediately, it started to take in its surroundings before blurting out, "What the?!", then screaming and backpedaling on the ground, attempting to escape.

"PLEASE DON'T EAT ME! I'M TOO CHEWY!" "The king is coming! His majesty is coming! Make way!", bellowed the authoritative voice of Zazu, a red-billed hornbill and the King of Pride Rock's majordomo, as he flew amidst the crowd.

Several animals to the creature's left suddenly started moving left and right to the sound of a bossy, weasel-like voice shouting, "Make room! Make room! Watch it, flatfoot! King Simba's walking here!" From the space in the crowd, emerged a meerkat and a warthog, Timon and Pumbaa, and behind them a great lion: Simba, King of Pride Rock and ruler of the Pride Lands.

"What's all the commotion about?", asked Simba to the crowd of animals, who all bowed once he entered the middle of the circle, until his eyes fell on the creature. Simba immediately sensed the fear and confusion in the creature and decided not to greet it with as much hostility as he had originally planned to.

Instead he approached the creature and asked, "Who are you and where do you come from, young one?" The creature, now identified as a young adolescent male (young because of his appearance), took one look at him and promptly fainted.

"Well, somebody's tired.", said Pumbaa nonchalantly, "He mustn't have had his nap today." Timon groaned and said, "Pumbaa, you mook, he's not taking a nap! Simba is a lion: otherwise known as a 550-pound on average predator known for their hunting skills, claws and teeth. In conclusion, they scare the living grubs out of animals sometimes!"

Pumbaa's eyes lit up immediately and he trotted over to Simba asking, "Could you scare me, Simba? I've been having problems with fleas recently. Their starting to itch like crazy." Timon rolled his eyes and groaned, "You're missing the point, Pumbaa! Nevermind, why do I even bother?"

Pumbaa replied, "I don't know, Timon. You'd think you'd have learned your lesson by now." Timon promptly face-palmed and fell over. "There's no time for this!", said Simba urgently, "Everyone, return to your business! I'm taking the young creature to Rafiki!" With that, Simba loaded the strange new animal onto his back and took off for Rafiki's home, the Tree of Life.

* * *

><p><strong>On the border of the Apelands, Tree of Life<strong>

When Simba arrived at the Tree of Life, he could hear, "Asante sana, squash banana. Wewe nugu mimi hapana.", being sung in the tree's interior. It was Rafiki, a mandrill and the King of Pride Rock's royal adviser. "Rafiki!", called Simba from below, "I need to speak with you."

Rafiki stopped his singing, turned around and saw Simba standing at the Tree of Life's trunk and greeted him with, "Ohohoho! Mufasa's boy wants to have a chat with old Rafiki, eh? Well, don't dawdle! Come in! Come in!"

Simba climbed up the base of the tree, taking care not to lose the creature on his back, and climbed up to where Rafiki was standing. With a shake of his shoulders, Simba dropped the creature on the floor of the Tree of Life, "You can tell me who or what this is."

Trademark staff in hand, Rafiki sauntered over to the young male and proceeded to poke, prod and examine every inch of him, then said, "This is a young human male: a creature thought to exist only in myth, until obviously right now."

"A human?", asked Simba, "I've never heard of them." Rafiki got a twinkle in his eye and said, "That's the beauty of being old, dear boy. You get around a lot. Humans are much like us: capable of great compassion and great violence."

Simba tensed up for a second and said rather heatedly, "How do we know he isn't a threat?" Rafiki smiled knowingly and said, "That's the thing, dear boy, I don't know. But sometimes, to know whether someone is bad or good, you just have to trust them and take the time to get to know them."

"Perhaps.", replied Simba, "But that doesn't explain how we found him passed out in the middle of the savanna." Rafiki hunched over a little more, if that was even possible, and examined the adolescent human, saying, "Hmmm, where exactly did you find him again?"

"In the grasslands out near that big hole. Why?" Rafiki gasped and quickly replied, "Uhhhh, no reason! This old monkey was just curious. Now lift the boy up a bit, will you?" "Okay.", said Simba awkwardly while pushing the human up with his head, "How are we going to wake him up?"

Rafiki stood with his stick poised, replied, "Like this.", and promptly hit the human on the head with his walking stick. The mysterious human instantly shot up, howled in agony (Simba flinched at that, feeling his pain), and yelled, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! Who hit me?!"

"Just me, young one." The human looked around frantically and asked, "Okay. Now where is you? Where's anything?" Rafiki grabbed his hand and said, "Don't worry, boy, I'm right here. My name is Rafiki and I am your friend. Tell me, what is that you call yourself?"

The human looked like he was deep in thought for a second before breaking down and sobbing out, "I don't know! I can't remember anything!" Without even thinking, Simba ran over and pulled him into an embrace causing the boy to stiffen, but then relax into the lion's warm fur.

"It's alright, you're safe. Nothing's going to hurt you.", cooed the King of Pride Rock, who soon heard the sound of light breathing, indicating that the human was asleep. Simba set him down, turned to Rafiki and asked, "Rafiki, what's wrong with him?"

Rafiki sighed and replied, "From what I could see, his eyes were blurred over which is an indicator of blindness; probably from the shock of seeing you and all the others." "He can't see?", asked Simba, "Will he be like that for the rest of his life?"

Rafiki scratched his chin thoughtfully and said, "I know a spell that will restore his sight, but..." "But what?", interrupted Simba. "It has the side effect of heightening all of his senses to the equivalent of those of other animals. He will have the speed of a cheetah, the roar of a lion, the agility of monkey, the strength of an elephant, the smell of a warthog..."

"Okay, Rafiki.", interrupted Simba, "I get it, just do it." Rafiki nodded and said nonchalantly, "Okiedokey." Rafiki began shaking his stick over the human; then he cracked open one of the gourds, dipping his finger in it and spreading the juice on the human's forehead, chanted, "Asante sana squash banana, wewe nugu mimi hapana. Asante sana squash banana, wewe nugu mimi hapana."

Then, all of a sudden, the most amazing thing happened. The boy's eyes opened, but instead of the foggy blue they were a moment ago, they were a deep red and his pupils were slit, not unlike the King of Pride Rock's.

The adolescent human started to let out a feral growl, like that of a predator, and promptly sat up in a crouching four-legged position, Rafiki and Simba taking notice of his now claw-like fingernails, opened his mouth and...burped?

* * *

><p><strong>So there we are, the adventures of Nyeupe begin. Of course, The Lion King is owned by Disney and, just for the record, one of the best traditionally animated Disney film of all time. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2: A New Animal (Sort of)

Sura 2 (Chapter 2): A New Animal (Sort of)

**Tree of Life, On the border of the Apelands**

The burp lasted for more than 12 minutes with Simba and Rafiki being blown back by the sheer power of it. Then the boy promptly let out a, "Whew!", and said, "Did you here that?"

Rafiki and Simba looked at the young human with disbelief at the vulgar display that they had just witnessed beforehand and the boy's sudden mood swing from afraid to angry to relaxed. Simba looked at Rafiki, hoping for an answer; to which Rafiki replied, "Even I don't get that one."

"A-Are you alright?", Simba stammered, still shook up by the force of the belch that would rival Pumbaa's farts. The boy looked deep in thought for a moment before replying, "I don't actually know. I don't even know who I am to be honest. Do you?"

Simba was about to respond, but Rafiki interrupted with, "Ohohoho! My friend, we know exactly who you are!" "You do?", asked the human, while Simba repeated in second person under his breath with a fake smile, "Yeah, we do? Uh, excuse us for a second." Simba pulled Rafiki aside and seethed quietly, "What are you doing?"

Rafiki shrugged and replied, "Well the boy's got to have a name, doesn't he?" "We don't even know what he's like yet, Rafiki.", Simba berated, "He could be tricking us into letting our guard down." Rafiki sighed, Simba's uncle Scar's lies and deceit had really taken its toll on Simba's trust towards others. So the old mandrill simply stood up straight and sauntered over to the turtle shell of dust he had smelled to learn of Simba being alive, took a handful and threw it into the air.

The young human's eyes went wide and he immediately rolled onto his back trying to catch the dust in his mouth, rolling this way and that as well. "Does that answer your question?", asked Rafiki sarcastically. Simba still didn't look completely convinced so Rafiki elaborated, "Remember what I said earlier, sometimes to know whether someone is good or bad, you just have to trust them and take the time to get to know them. I think it would be a good idea to give him a home here in the Pridelands. Who knows, maybe his life here will be better than the one before?

Simba looked over at the boy rolling in his back in complete euphoria, trying to catch dust in his mouth. Seeing behavior like this reminded Simba of himself as a cub and how he felt after his father was killed in the wildebeest stampede and Timon and Pumbaa went out of their way to take him in; sad, scared, unsure of whom to trust. This boy needed someone to guide him, protect him, and show him the "law of the jungle" so to speak and Simba now felt that responsibility lay with him.

Simba walked steadily and cautiously over to the human; but before he could speak, the human suddenly stopped and made an awful coughing and hacking noise almost like he...was..."CHOKING!", screamed Rafiki at the top of his lungs, dropping his prized stick and running over to the boy.

Rafiki got behind him, wrapped his spindly arms around the human and began squeezing on his chest shouting, "Nje na hewa mbaya! Katika na nzuri! Nje na hewa mbaya! Katika na nzuri!" The old mandrill, with surprising strength, flipped the human on his back, straddled him, and exclaimed, "Now, the kiss of life!"

Simba, looking on in horror at Rafiki's attempts to "rescue" the poor, choking human, piped up, "Uh, Rafiki I don't think...", to which Rafiki interrupted with, "Epepep! Let this old monkey handle this!" Rafiki was about to dive in to give mouth to mouth when the human's eyes shot open and he screamed in panic and fear, scrambling away from the mandrill and diving outside the Tree of Life, running into the vast grassy plains of the Pridelands, screaming all the way.

"No! Rafiki, come on! We've gotta go after him!", exclaimed Simba who was about to make a mad dash, but stopped when he saw from behind that Rafiki wasn't following. "Aren't you coming, Rafiki?" Rafiki simply said, "Nope. Better to let the boy figure this out for himself, for now anyway." And so Simba sat, worrying about the strange new arrival in the Pridelands.

* * *

><p><strong>The Waterhole, Pridelands<strong>

The amnesiac human was running out of breath as he tried to escape the crazy old monkey who almost made out with him. He looked behind him to make sure the crazy primate wasn't in pursuit, but didn't see where he was going until he tripped and landed in the wrinkly trunk of an elephant who was grazing on some water lilies. The boy gasped in horror and backed away, right into another elephant and gasped again. Finally, he stumbled right underneath an elephant rearing up on his hind legs to trumpet.

The human buckled under the pressure and let out a scream that went something like, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Ahh?" The elephants all turned to look at him and several looked at him with feelings of being freaked out and annoyed. "Hey! You're stirring up the water, dude!", said one elephant and another scolded, "You're frightening the children!"

Several other pachyderms began gathering around to complain about the noise, but halfway through their ranting a voluminous trumpet could be heard from the other side of the Waterhole. Into the water came a large, blackish elephant with a missing tusk; it was Tembo, the elephant patriarch. "What's going on here?! What's all the commotion about?!", rumbled Tembo.

Immediately, the elephants cleared a path for him and pointed their tusks in unison at the human. Tembo lumbered up to the human and chuckled mirthfully, "So, you're the "hyoo-mane" that Simba was asking around for. I must say, you've caused quite a bit of mischief today, young man." The human immediately relaxed upon hearing the elephant's mirthful tone and replied, "Sorry about that, but I've had one heck of a day! First, I lost my sight after seeing a lot of animals around me; then I get it back, only to find a crazy old monkey making out with me!"

The Waterhole erupted with laughter at the human's expense and soon enough he joined in with them; albeit uncomfortably and forced. "Rafiki spooked you, eh?", asked Tembo, still coming down from his humorous high, "Don't worry, it sounds like he was trying to give you "the kiss of life". "That's right! That's right! I meant no harm!", sounded the crazed, gravelly voice of Rafiki, followed by Simba.

The human squeaked and hid behind Tembo, who, sighing and shaking his head, reached behind him with his trunk, wrapped the human in it, and plopped him down in front of Simba. The king of Pride Rock said, "I think that this would be a good time to start over. Hello, my name is Simba. I'm the king of this land and this my adviser, Rafiki."

The human immediately brightened up and exclaimed, "Nice to meet you, Simba!", taking the king's paw and shaking it profusely. Everyone was amazed and appalled by the human not kneeling before Simba; if Zazu were there, he would have been as mad as a hippo with a hernia. However, Simba didn't mind and, in fact, was amused by the human's innocence and naiveté; but the king grew solemn for an important question still lingered in his mind.

"Do you remember who you are yet?", asked Simba, which triggered the reaction of the human immediately and visibly deflated. Rafiki could feel the boy's sadness at not knowing his identity and interrupted, "Well, that settles it then! We shall have to give you a name!" Rafiki put his finger on his chin and scratched, leaning in out of the human's gaze and making him a bit uncomfortable.

"Hmmm.", hmmed Rafiki, "How about Rangi? No, you don't look like a Rangi. Pausha? No. Aha! I have it! From this day to the next, you shall be known as: NYEUPE!" The human thought about it and smiled, replying, "Yeah, I like that name. Nyeupe it is!"

The animals were about to cheer, but Zazu suddenly flew in and landed in front of Simba and screamed, "SIRE! SIRE! A RHINO HAS GOTTEN HIMSELF STUCK IN THE GORGE ON TOP OF A ROCK FORMATION!" "What?!", exclaimed Simba, "How?!" Zazu huffed and replied, "Don't ask, sire. Hurry, hurry, there's no time to lose!"

Simba turned to the elephants and ordered, "Tembo, you and your elephants come with me! We'll need some pachyderm power for this! Nyeupe, stay here with Rafiki until we get back!" Nyeupe shot back, "But I can help! Please take me with you!" Simba stared at him firmly and said, "No. You're still new here and I don't want you to get hurt."

Simba, Zazu, and the elephants took of for the Gorge, leaving a frustrated Nyeupe and a sneaky Rafiki in the dust. Rafiki walked up to Nyeupe and said, "You know, sometimes, to do the right thing, we have to disobey the rules once in a while. This might very well be one of those times." "Yeah.", agreed Nyeupe sadly, but then his tone grew thoughtfully into, "Yeah!"

"So?", Rafiki asked, "What are you going to do?" Nyeupe looked at Rafiki and replied, "First, I'm gonna need to borrow your stick!" When Nyeupe tried to, however, Rafiki immediately started pulling back screeching, "NO, NOT THE STICK!" Nyeupe immediately trampled Rafiki over and took off yelling back, "Sorry, crazy old monkey! I feel like I might need it!"

Rafiki sat on his blue-bottomed rump alone, grumbling to himself, "Kids today. No respect for elders." Looking around, Rafiki continued, "He could have at least given me a ride."


End file.
